Recreational and other users desire lightweight, portable watercrafts. Portable watercrafts such as kayaks and canoes are available commercially, for example, under the brand names Sea Eagle® and Klepper®. See e.g., “Single Klepper Folding Kayaks.” Klepper Folding Kayaks AG. <http://www.klepper.com/index2.htm> (15 Nov. 2002) and “The Sea Eagle Explorer 380x.” Sea Eagle.com Inc. <http://www.seaeagle.com/canoes/380x.asp> (15 Nov. 2002).
Current designs of portable watercraft are generally based on inflatable tubes. For example, the Sea Eagle kayaks utilize inflatable air chambers for floatation. These watercraft which may be based on inflatable tubes, require bulky air pumps for deploying the watercraft for use. Other commercial watercraft designs use a number of connecting rods for an assembly of a skeleton of frame. A separate skin is draped on the skeleton in the manner of a tent construction. For example, the Klepper Folding kayaks utilize a method of construction similar to that of a tent. A number of poles are first connected together to assemble a kayak skeleton. Then a waterproof skin is draped over which. All of the commercially available portable kayaks are bulky, and take considerable time and effort to assemble at least because of the number of loose individual parts that have to be put together. Also, the weight of these kayaks is sufficiently large to make unaided transport by an individual impractical. For example, a portable kayak sold under the brand name AE Scout, which may be the smallest commercially available one-person portable kayak, is about 12.5′×26″ when assembled. However, it weighs approximately 51 lbs, which may be too much for an unaided transport by an individual.
Consideration is now directed toward improving the portability of watercraft. In particular, attention is directed to lightweight watercraft structures that can be compressed and transported easily by an unaided individual.